The Dunwoody City Council at its Aug. 12 meeting heard several speakers calling for an end to diversity hiring goals in the city’s police department, blaming lax security surrounding the attempted assassination of presidential candidate Donald Trump on its former female secret service director.
The city council later denounced their remarks, calling them disappointing and appalling.
During public comment, Tom Simon, a longtime Dunwoody resident, said the police department should not try to achieve its goal of having females comprise 30% of its staff by 2030. He inferred that the attempted assassination of Trump occurred because former U.S. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle is female. Cheatle resigned following the incident.
“DEI [Diversity, equality and inclusion] goals are a bad idea,” Simon said. “The Secret Service has similar goals and you see what happened [when a lone gunman shot Trump at a campaign rally on July 13] .”
“We are all fortunate that President Trump was not assassinated,” he continued. “All we need to do is look at the Secret Service and see its DEI hire at the helm, now gone.”
Simon said any public safety institution with DEI hiring goals is “unacceptable.”
“If something dreadful happens with a DEI hire, each and every member of the city council will be held liable and responsible,” he said.
Another speaker, Gerald McCarley, echoed Simon’s comments, saying that the department should eliminate diversity goals immediately.
Diversity hiring goals would put “fences around the police department,” he said.
“Give the police chief the chance to be successful,” McCarley said. “Let him hire the most qualified individuals without any diversity requirements.”
During council comments as the meeting concluded, several council members denounced the remarks made by Simon and McCarley.
“We are recruiting a new pool, not with underqualified or not qualified, but similarly qualified, and that’s what we are looking for,” Councilmember Catherine Lautenbacher said. “ I was disappointed with the comments earlier.”
Councilmember John Heneghan also said he welcomes the inclusion of diverse hires within the police department.
“The city of Dunwoody’s police department should mirror the community,” Heneghan said. “I think it’s important.”
Councilmember Stacey Harris said she was “appalled about what I heard tonight.”
“I cannot wait to hit that 30 [percent] by 2030,” she said.
In other action, the council:
- Recognized two police officers, Lt. Jason Dove and Sgt. Anwar Selah, with its first ever Lemonade Days’ unsung hero award for their handling of security at the city’s Lemonade Days event.
- Heard from Heneghan asking for an update on the bids received by the city for installing turf at Peachtree Charter Middle School fields. The council approved an expenditure of $1 million last fall, but Heneghan said “the project appears to be stalled.” City Manager Eric Linton said he would report on its status t at the next council meeting.
- Discussed an expenditure of $63,000 for the development of a stormwater master model for the Marsh Creek Basin.
- Heard plans for the city’s annual holiday lights installation at Brook Run Park.
- Talked about lower-cost alternatives to the city’s planned veteran’s memorial design.
